Local children’s fest brings families back year after year
In the three years she has been doing the programming for the Calgary International Children’s Festival, Christy Offer has realized what a true legacy it has become.
“This is the 32nd Children’s Festival and we’re seeing secondand third-generation attendees,” Offer says.
“People who came to the festival as children are now bringing their own kids and even their grandchildren. They’ve not forgotten what an incredible impact the shows they saw had on them and they want their children and grandchildren to have a similar experience.
“People tell me the shows are magical and that’s what brings them back year after year.”
This year’s festival runs in the Arts Commons May 23 to 26.
Offer says the festival considers it a major coup to be bringing back Nova Scotia’s Mermaid Theatre, which presents popular stories through black light theatre.
“The last time Mermaid Theatre was at the festival in 2013 they presented The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Children and adults were mesmerized and have been asking us to bring them back ever since.”
They tour all over North America so their schedule is booked years in advance.
Calgary will be getting them directly after their run in Pennsylvania.
This year, Mermaid Theatre will be presenting its version of Marcus Pfister’s The Rainbow Fish in the Max Bell Theatre.
“This is an ideal show for Mermaid because they get to create a world under the ocean all in black light.”
The 6 p.m. show on May 25 is a pyjama party event and children and their parents are encouraged to wear their pyjamas.
Also back by demand is Doktor Kaboom, who was a headliner for the 2016 festival. His show, It’s Just Rocket Science, will close the festival on May 26 at 4 p.m. in the Jack Singer Concert Hall.
“The audience just ate him up last time he was here. He had kids catching banana chunks in their mouths from a catapult he created for them. Children wanted him back. Adults wanted him back. We wanted him back. We all love his slapstick approach to science.
“His dialogue is quite sophisticated and he plays a very serious character, but his experiments are a bit goofy which makes the show so much fun.”
Both The Painted Fish and It’s Just Rocket Science are big shows in large venues, but there are also intimate shows in smaller venues like The Big Secret Theatre and The Motel Theatre.
One of these is Thumbelina/ Tommelise from Montreal’s L’Illusion Theatre of Marionettes.
“They tell Hans Christian Andersen’s classic story of Thumbelina using dance, puppetry and music. Thumbelina is a marionette. This is an ideal show for children ages four to eight,” Offer says.
There are 10 shows to be presented on various venues in the Arts Common, but there are also scores of free shows in the plaza.
Check out the festival’s website at calgarykidsfest.ca for more information.
Sponsorship from Qualico Communities means tickets are just $17 for each of the 10 shows. Without it, tickets would cost $80 each.
“It is our mandate to make the festival as accessible and family friendly as possible.”
Certain shows sold out in advance in previous years so Offer advises booking seats as quickly as possible.
People tell me the shows are magical and that’s what brings them back year after year.